About Blue Thumb
Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water™ is an award-winning collaborative program originally developed by Rice Creek Watershed District. Blue Thumb partners are a group of professionals from local governmental units (watershed and conservation districts, cities, counties); non-profit and community organizations; and nursery and landscape professionals. The Blue Thumb program was featured as the first stop on the "Blue Legacy Tour" co-sponspored by National Geographic.
The Blue Thumb program aims to encourage homeowners to use native plant gardening, raingardens, and shoreline stabilization to reduce runoff from their home landscape in an effort improve water quality. Since we all want clean water, Blue Thumb helps partners present a unified public education message.
Partners may use the attractive Blue Thumb logo on print pieces, purchase promotional materials co-developed by field professionals, and more effectively collaborate with agencies and organizations with shared education goals. A partnership like Blue Thumb minimizes duplication and increases the strength of our reach to watershed residents. Retailers benefit from the increased exposure that results from association with Blue Thumb, and will also receive technical support and opportunities for professional development through trainings and workshops.
One element of the Blue Thumb program is an easy-to-use website for homeowners seeking native plant gardening information. Another key component is a raingarden installation manual for homeowners co-developed by Minnesota landscape ecologists Dan Shaw and Rusty Schmidt.
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Get Involved
Contact Dawn Pape at dpape@ricecreek.org or 763-398-3070 x178. * Do a Blue Thumb planting Help with a planting Adopt a project Host a neighborhood Blue Thumb party Put a Blue Thumb sign in your yard - especially if you have a Blue Thumb project Get trained to give Blue Thumb Intro. Shows at neighborhood Blue Thumb parties Staff a Blue Thumb booth at local fairs Become a Blue Thumb partner Attend Blue Thumb meetings and work on task force committees Make a donation Do you have other ideas on how to use your talents to promote Blue Thumb? Let us know!